tropism

[ troh-piz-uhm ]

/ ˈtroʊ pɪz əm /

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noun Biology.

an orientation of an organism to an external stimulus, as light, especially by growth rather than by movement.

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Origin of tropism

First recorded in 1895–1900; independent use of -tropism

OTHER WORDS FROM tropism

tro·pis·mat·ic

[troh-piz-mat-ik], /ˌtroʊ pɪzˈmæt ɪk/, adjectivetro·pis·tic

[troh-pis-tik], /troʊˈpɪs tɪk/, adjective

Words nearby tropism

tropical year, tropic bird, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, tropine, tropism, tropo-, tropology, troponin, troponin I, tropopause

Other definitions for tropism (2 of 2)

-tropism

variant of -tropy.

Origin of -tropism

see origin at -tropy, -ism

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use tropism in a sentence

In those two books, the existential shows itself gradually—breast cancer in the first, a physiological tropism in the second.
Joshua Ferris’s New Novel Chronicles an Existential Dentist in Despair|Tom LeClair|May 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Still, Cuccinelli has shown his own tropism toward the kindness of strangers.
The It Factor in Virginia’s Governor’s Race: Modernity|Lloyd Green|July 29, 2013|DAILY BEAST
This may be a tropism (stereotropism) or it may be a mere surface tension phenomenon.
The Organism as a Whole|Jacques Loeb
It's the same old disregard, or it's the same old psycho-tropism, or process of assimilation.
The Book of the Damned|Charles Fort

We shall in the succeeding series of papers deal with the subject of tropism in general.
Life Movements in Plants, Volume II, 1919|Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose
The workers, on the other hand, who have to be in and out of the nest about their business, do not have this tropism.
Natural Wonders|Edwin Tenney Brewster
Nevertheless this is the psycho-tropism of science to all "thunderstones" said to have fallen luminously.
The Book of the Damned|Charles Fort

British Dictionary definitions for tropism (1 of 2)

tropism

/ (ˈtrəʊpɪzəm) /

noun

the response of an organism, esp a plant, to an external stimulus by growth in a direction determined by the stimulus

Derived forms of tropism

tropismatic, adjectivetropistic (trəʊˈpɪstɪk), adjective

Word Origin for tropism

from Greek tropos a turn

British Dictionary definitions for tropism (2 of 2)

-tropism

-tropy

n combining form

indicating a tendency to turn or develop in response to a certain stimulusphototropism

Word Origin for -tropism

from Greek tropos a turn

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for tropism

tropism

[ trō′pĭz′əm ]

The growth or movement of a living organism or anatomical structure toward or away from an external stimulus, such as light, heat, or gravity. See also geotropism hydrotropism phototropism.

Other words from tropism

tropistic adjective